


I Was Looking At You

by ariadnerue



Series: Out of the Woods [4]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: F/F, pretty much just fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-05
Updated: 2015-03-05
Packaged: 2018-03-16 10:40:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3485174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ariadnerue/pseuds/ariadnerue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Korra had never been much of a crier. But in the time she'd been in a relationship with Asami, she'd learned something rather surprising about herself. Seeing Asami cry always made Korra cry. Always.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Was Looking At You

**Author's Note:**

> Aaaand here's part 3 and/or 4 of Out of the Woods. Just one left after this one.
> 
> PS by the way Korrasami is still canon and I'm still not over it okay byyyyye.

_Sometimes, when Korra slid a hand into her pocket and closed her fingers around the jewelry, the stone charm and the metal ring were cool to the touch like they'd never been handled before._

_Like the time Asami had been driving them to lunch and a child had run into the road in front of them and the brakes squealed and the next thing Korra remembered was lying in a hospital bed with a headache._

Waking up in a hospital was not Korra's favorite thing in the world.

Objectively, it wasn't too bad. She was in a soft bed in a quiet room. The sunset was pouring in through the window, making everything look a bit warm and soft around the edges. Her head hurt like hell, but when she looked to the side, the first thing she saw was Asami dozing in a chair beside the bed. So that was nice.

But as Korra examined her silently, she realized she looked exhausted. Even in her half-asleep state there was a deep furrow of concern in her brow. Her elbow was perched on the arm of the chair, her chin resting on the heel of her hand, and her fingers were clenched so tight her knuckles were white.

The pleasant fog of unconsciousness was clearing out of Korra's mind and the questions were pouring in instead.

"Asami?" Korra said quietly, and Asami jumped in her chair.

"Korra!" she gasped, lurching forward and grabbing Korra's hand in both of hers. "You're awake!"

A cold wave of panic swooped up from Korra's stomach. She sat up, ignoring the pounding in her head.

"How long have I been out?" she asked.

Asami squeezed her hand and looked away. It must have been a long time. Something awful must have happened.

"Almost an hour," Asami said gravely.

Korra stared at her. The panic dissolved immediately into something that felt rather like amusement.

"Are you kidding?" Korra asked, a smile tugging at her lips. "Is that it?"

Asami frowned and pulled her hand away.

"What do you mean 'is that it?'" she demanded. "I've been worried sick!"

"I'm sorry," Korra placated, trying so hard not to laugh she was sure she'd break a rib. She reached for Asami's hand with a small smile and Asami took it grudgingly. "No really, I'm sorry. It's just… waking up in a hospital with you looking so worried, I kind of assumed I'd been in a coma or something."

"You weren't in a coma," Asami grumbled, and Korra grinned when she noticed her cheeks had turned pink when Korra had said she looked worried. "You were in a car accident. Do you remember?"

Korra frowned and thought about it. Asami had been driving them to lunch, and then a ball bounced into the street in front of them, and a little girl chased after it, and…

"Oh spirits, the little girl," Korra blurted, jolting upright and looking frantically at her girlfriend. "Is she okay?"

"She's fine, I stopped in time and didn't hit her," Asami said soothingly, a fond smile finally tugging at the corners of her mouth.

Korra sighed in relief. Then she swallowed hard and squeezed Asami's hand.

"What about you?" she asked gently, searching Asami's eyes. "Are you okay?"

Asami blushed again and looked down. She looked breathless for a moment and Korra just bit her lip and waited.

"I'm fine," she murmured. She started tracing idle patterns into Korra's palm with her fingertips. "I'm not the one whose head connected with the dashboard."

"That explains the headache," Korra said with a smirk. Asami frowned at her. "What?"

"You were… you were bleeding a lot," the engineer sighed, her words stilted like she couldn't get enough air to speak. She took Korra's hand in hers again and squeezed. "And you were unconscious. And it was… it was scary, Korra."

"I'm okay, sweetheart," Korra said gently. She reached out and ran a hand through Asami's hair to try to shift her focus, but Asami just leaned a bit into the touch and kept frowning down at their intertwined hands.

"Well you didn't seem okay at the time," Asami muttered. She wiped at her eyes with the heel of her hand and Korra felt her heart clench in her chest. "And I know you're a healer and you could have taken care of it easily but… you were unconscious, and you couldn't very well heal yourself when you were unconscious, so… so I panicked and brought you here and they healed you in like two minutes but I was still so worried and…"

"Hey," Korra cut her off as she seemed to be running out of breath. She cupped Asami's cheek, turning her to face her fully with gentle fingers. "Asami, you've seen me hurt much worse than this before. What's going on?"

Asami sniffed and looked down again. She slowly laced her fingers through Korra's.

"I've never been the one that hurt you before," Asami said quietly. Korra inhaled sharply in surprise. Asami wiped her eyes again.

"Asami," Korra sighed, offering her a fond smile. "This isn't your fault." Asami just sniffled. "I mean… if anything, it's the car's fault, right?"

That was apparently the wrong thing to say, because Asami looked up at Korra in horror and her eyes filled with tears.

"But I designed the car!" she wailed.

That was all the warning Korra got before Asami started sobbing. The Avatar had seen Asami cry a few times, but never quite like this. She had been so full of pent up adrenaline and worry and fear that it all came pouring out of her in tears.

Korra had never been much of a crier. But in the time she'd been in a relationship with Asami, she'd learned something rather surprising about herself. Seeing Asami cry always made Korra cry. Always. Without fail. She couldn't figure out if it was some kind of sympathetic reflex, or if seeing Asami in pain just caused her pain, or if it was something else entirely, but she immediately felt tears stinging in her eyes and a lump forming in her throat.

"Oh honey," Korra breathed, holding her arms out to Asami. "Please don't cry, come here."

Asami wiped her eyes and nodded, climbing into the hospital bed without hesitation and fitting herself into Korra's side. She was shaking in Korra's arms and the Avatar had to blink to hold in her own tears.

"Asami," Korra laughed, burying her face in her girlfriend's hair. "Please stop crying. You know that if you keep crying, you're gonna make me cry."

"I don't care," Asami wept into Korra's shoulder. "I'm just glad you're okay."

"I'm glad you're okay too," Korra sniffed. She closed her eyes, letting the tears run down her face. "I love you so much, you giant dork."

"I love you more, you beautiful jerk."

So they sat there, sobbing and laughing, for a solid few minutes. It was one of the stranger moments Korra could remember in their two years together.

"Miss Sato, is Avatar Korra…"

Both of them jumped in surprise and looked up at the doorway. A nurse had just walked into the room, and he looked somewhere between shocked and confused. Asami blushed and scrambled out of Korra's bed, situating herself back in her chair and wiping the tears from her face. Korra just rolled her eyes at her and let out a watery laugh.

"…Awake," the nurse finished. He cleared his throat awkwardly and looked away. "Good."

"So, will I live?" Korra asked him lightly. Asami scoffed.

"Um… yes, you're free to go," he chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "Just watch for signs of a concussion and come back right away if you see any."

They both apologized and thanked the man profusely before they left.

Korra spent the whole ride home with her hand in her pocket, fist closed around the necklace and the ring that she always carried with her, wondering at how cold both items felt against her warm skin. They consumed her thoughts as she fell asleep in Asami's arms that night, and they were her first thought when she woke up early the next morning.

But as she watched the sunrise painting colors on Asami's skin and measured her own heartbeat against the slow, even breaths Asami took in her sleep, she decided she could do better than proposing as a way of apologizing for being knocked unconscious and making her cry. Asami deserved better. So she'd wait a bit longer. There was no rush, really.

It was clear in the way Asami kissed her when she woke up that they both wanted forever.

_Are we in the clear yet?_


End file.
